Out and About...

January 21, 2018

Today is Sunday.. . That means I had to give a talk ... because I’m lucky (emoji). The topic was "The Book of Mormon" The MTC president asked everyone to write one on Wednesday, so I did, and this morning we found out who all the lucky lads were. I was one! As I walked through the doors to sacrament meeting I felt like my talk was inadequate so I rewrote it, in my head, with a new take on the topic and expanded on a lot of areas. I used stories that have helped my conversion to know the truth (from my three dads; dad Jeff, Michael, and Brandon.) I am so thankful for those experiences I’ve had so I could "wing" a talk that was a lot better than my prepared one. They were supposed to be five-ish minutes but I winged it to eight (thumbs up emoji).

So they call it 'nap day' here so other than church, we all slept for like five hours! Yes! So good. Then we had FHE and played scripture chase with PMG and missionary handbook. I won one round and got some awesome England socks.

I could have sworn they turned the heater on cause it got really hot so bunch of them started __?_. Apparently they said it was “the spirit.“ It was a good feeling. Also my British is getting a lot better! You just have to drop your jaw.

January 22

We all went proselytizing down in Manchester today! My companion and I gave away one Book of Mormon and like five pass along cards with my name on it so I hope I get an email soon! I learned a lot about England today. 

1. Manchester and other cities are super yucky with trash everywhere because there was an Irish terrorist who would put bombs in the rubbish bins. 

2. It may be English, but I understood none of it. Especially the older people, they sounded like they were mumbling. 

I am super pumped about learning Irish/Scottish in class this week. They’re actually going to teach us phrases and how to understand them. We don’t need to talk any different though, but I hope I can pick it up. 

We also got our fake investigators to commit to baptism. The investigator said his dad lost faith because there’s a lot of new churches popping up then asking for money. The conversation leads into commandments but the lesson plan was on plan of salvation ... Luckily I saved it and brought it back to plan.

My district also gave each other our office names. I’m Michael Scott, because I’m the leader and funny one.   ha ha

January 23

Today's P-Day! That means Temple time. The Preston Temple is like a mile walk from here so a few districts went to do endowments. It was super cool because I wore E. Mildorf's Swedish headset so I could watch the side screen w/subtitles and still understand and get a lot out of the experience. Gift of tongues I guess... 

After my district and _____ others walked about a mile in to town. The traffic on the left makes it SUPER hard to think where cars are coming from. We went in to a super cool church to take pictures outside then, the pastor guy, came out [he saw us through security cams] then invited us in and it was some really cool architecture and I'm so thankful for this guy letting us in. 

After, we went to the local market and shopped around and I had lunch at a FISH & CHIPS place and it was very nice. Mildorf and I split from the rest and wnt to PC World. It's like an English Best Buy. We then went back to the MTC to do emails but ended up playing ping pong for like 2 hours. Then we started emails and it made me super homesick cause I flippen miss and love everyone back home so much. But I'm here for reasons bigger than myself so I'm pushing through. We then went to class. I skipped dinner for you guys! And it was Mac & Cheese! Anyways we went to class, learned more on planning. Studied. Very nice. Today was nearly a perfect MTC day

January 24 

I found out that today wasn't P-day and I was devastated (but in our district we pull down our eye sack to look sad and it's become a goof & gaff.) Today was so long though! Elder Hicks woke me up at like 6 am! So we could get to the showers early.... We had pancakes for breakfast and they were yum (Don't worry Britt & Mom yours are WAY better.) Then we had study and a lesson early in the morning, it was going to be our first and only, and we got her to commit to baptism. (I wish real world it will be this easy.) We then had exercise and went to the stake centre to play lightning and I almost won! I worked up a good sweat. We then had lunch, classes, an another lesson where we just asked personal questions to see where she needs to grow spiritually. We had more study then a devotional w/MTC Pres. First, was on why having a current temple recommend is so important. Second, was about chastity and it was super awkward and he told us to kiss girls and stuff now,  and forgot to clarify until the end, that he meant AFTER missions. Then we had a district meeting and then read the BOM and went up to dorms where all the dudes put on face masks!  Anyway, today got better as it ended. 

January 25

The days are long and the weeks are short. This quote is legit; I can't believe that a more than a week has passed! It's weird because I want my mission to be a blink of an eye because I know it's gonna be hard but I want it to go slow so I can learn a lot and enjoy all the time I have with these people who are so AMAZING. Some of their spirits are so strong, I'm jealous, I know you shouldn't base your testimony off others but there are some rock solid __? bosses?____ here. Like Sister H. is a convert but her family isn't, her parents didn't want her to associate w/ any mormons or read the BOM so she would turn on the shower, lock the door and read in the bathroom. She had to hide her BOM. She's so cool! She's only a few days older than me but I really look up to her. D&C 46:10-11 I think is really cool so check it! [10 And again, verily I say unto you, I would that ye should always remember, and always retain in your minds what those gifts are, that are given unto the church. 11 For all have not every gift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.]

Also, I made a cool bed tonight with four mattresses, it's a perk of only having one flatmate in a room for 6. I ALMOST FORGOT!... I had haggis today for lunch and it was ok, not terrible! I was scared it would be disgusting but it was good tasting. The texture was gross-ish but the taste totally made up for it. NO ONE TELL me what it's made of please....

January 26

Today, it happened but only few will understand. I got a really bad heartburn and it lasted like an hour during breakfast so I couldn't eat. But after that, the MTC got on a bus and did tours around Preston where the first saints settled. It was super fun to get out of the daily grind and explore and chill with me mates. I saw lots of sheep so I could've gotten a lot of development cards if I had a good [part]. Saw a river where people were baptized and a super cool town. When we got back we had lunch then normal classes. For my BOM study I read some war chapters in Alma. Cool. We had another giggle after in district meeting but not much more happened. 

January 27

SO... I flippen LOVE my district! Yesterday I was kind of having a bum day and apparently people noticed. This morning when I opened my PMG to start personal study I flipped through pages deciding where to start and found a sticky note that said "Be Happy, God loves you."  I was confused then found a bunch more from everyone telling me how much I meant to them and it was so hard to not cry in front of them or give all the sisters big hugs. They're so nice and cool. I'm so blessed to have an amazing family at home and super amazing friends here. 

Sister W's goal for class today was to get Bro Wilford to laugh - because he's super serious and only laughs at his own jokes - but today we got him to actually laugh. 

I read James 1:5 and really found joy in the "unbraideth not" because I learned what that word mean. God will not judge our prayers and he wants you to pray for help to help others. Elder Hicks is really growing on me. I'm really loving everyone instead of just saying it.